BENGALURU: Many people may watch movies but there are very few who notice a separate story that is told by a play of lights in a movie. Infact, this is a common practice that is followed by directors in many movies to convey meaning at the subliminal level.
For example, in the crime family saga The Godfather, all members of the Corlene family have a pale brown hue. The reluctant son, Michael Corlene played by Al Pacino is portrayed by a different colour up until the time that he learns of his his father’s murder.
He gets the same pale brown hue in the scene when he gets a phone call about his father’s death , indicating his ascendancy as the main family patriarch.
‘Story Telling With Light’ was a session that was taken by Sharon Calahan, Director of Photography, Pixar Animation Studios, at the GAFX Conference, where she highlighted a number of such examples.
One can convey a number of things be it symbolism, genre etc in the movie by the mere lighting according to Sharon. There are genres like noirre crime, romance, horror that tend to be indicated by certain lights and frames. She also highlighted how the same technique can help create scenes that are characteristic of movies such as James Bond, movies related to themes and cinematography associated with Jane Austin and Charles Dickens novels.
In another movie, Blue Valentine, the two protagonist are portrayed by two main colours - red and blue. There is an interplay of colours in different situations to convey different meanings in their relationship. “There are a few movies where one can show how much of the character is beginning to possess each other’s characteristics using colours,” says Sharon. A number of situations of tension between characters can also be shown only by mere framing of the characters.
Along with a number of Hollywood movies, Sharon showed the audience a number of frames from the Bollywood movie , Barfi indicating her love for the mastery in lighting and frames in the movie.